Life in a New City

This has been the craziest week of my mission.

So leaving Lutsk was the worst thing ever, and I was not happy, like I briefly mentioned last week. But we got to L'viv, and had an intense time with transfers. People were going 100 different directions, and things got a little crazy. Funny thing that happened: An elder in my mission, Elder Nielson (the one who reminds me of Harrison, I served with him in lutsk for 6 months), showed me a picture and said, "Is this your sister?" It was MADI! It was a picture of her on exchanges with a Sister Demke in NC, and I had just barely gotten the same picture in the mail from Madi. Small world we live in. It was a real cute face, Mad ;) hahahaha.

We had 10 sisters come in, with 9 sisters training, and I met my new companions. Sister Lewis, and Sister Jardine. We clicked immediately. Sister Lewis reminds me so much of Madi, and it was the biggest tender mercy from the Lord to put me with her. The moment I met her 3 months ago in Kiev, I thought, I HAVE to serve with her. With all the new sisters, the chances of that happening were slim to none, and it made me sad....Who knew I'd get to be in a trio with her for a week! Sister Jardine is incredible. She's just on fire, and her language is absolutely out of control. She doesn't even know it. I was so impressed with her, on her first day. We set 2 baptismal dates on the first day in Chernivtsi, and I thought, "I could get used to this."  Also I get to be in the same district as Elder Hadfield, Megan's cousin! He's still as funny as ever.

I got a call from President saying that my new companion got released in the MTC and went home due to illness, so I'm stealing one of Sister Old's companions, Sister Crane. She'll be here tomorrow morning. We have half the companionships white washing right now, 2 companionships are opening areas. President called me asking for help with transfers, and I'll have to report to him this week with 2 names of NEW sisters who will be ready to train in 6 weeks. Ahhh. Bless their little hearts.

To answer mom's questions: The area is fabulous, and beautiful. The apartment is a little cozy cottage, and looks like a massive palace on the inside. I'm sleeping on a bed (first time in 8 1/2 months that I'm not sleeping on a couch....not a pull-out couch. A couch), and it's a dream come true. The new sisters are out of this world. Every one of them are amazing, prepared, fired-up, and ready to go. The branch is on FIRE. They have multiple baptisms per month, and right now half the baptismal dates in the mission belong to sister Lewis. She's a boss. I'm about a 6 hour train ride from L'viv, and it's right next to Romania, if anyone's wondering.

The language is coming rapidly, and I'm shocking myself with how much I actually know. This is the first time I've served around younger missionaries. I've always been the youngest group in my district, so it's a new concept. I had to give a talk in church yesterday, and it went really well, with not a lot of time to prepare. Afterward someone said my accent was beautiful to listen to...so at least the accent is coming along a little! haha. Many of the members here speak STRAIGHT Russian, which I've never really had to deal with before (Lutsk is as clean Ukrainian as it gets), so I'll have to work on my Russian comprehension.

The investigators are golden, the people are wonderful, and I'm really going to love serving here. I learned so much from the humble people in Lutsk, and I'm so grateful for the time I had to serve there. It's really incredible, and I miss it soooo much already. But I'm happy to be here! I love it!

Thanks for all the support. I can feel your prayers! 

Love Sister Ukrainian Webber

Ps. Tell Laura that she looked beautiful at the wedding :) 

pps. Tell Jason that I'm sorry I can't post pictures today....but I'll have a "photo blog" next week and just post tons of pictures and little descriptions of everything.